Genetics by the Numbers: 10 Tantalizing Tales

Genes: What's Your Number?

Scholars have been studying modern genetics since the mid-19th century, but even today they continue to make surprising discoveries about genes and inheritance. Here are some stats they’ve learned so far:

6

Photo Credit: NASA

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6

That's how many feet long the DNA from one of your cells would be if you uncoiled each strand and placed them end to end. Do this for all of your DNA, and the resulting strand would be 67 billion miles long — the same as about 150,000 round trips to the moon.

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20,000

Photo Credit: Dreamstime

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20,000

That's the approximate number of genes in the human genome. Our genes provide cells with information on how to make proteins. Scientists have estimated that humans may produce up to 100,000 proteins, so they thought there were about as many human genes. Today, they know that some genes contain the code for making multiple proteins.

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37

Photo Credit: Nicolle Rager, National Science Foundation.

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37

That's the number of genes in our "other" genome — the mitochondrial genome. Mitochondria are the cells' power plants, and many of their genes are involved in production of cellular energy. They have their own set of genes because they are thought to have evolved from bacteria that were engulfed by eukaryotic cells (cells containing a nucleus) some 1.5 billion years ago, during the Precambrian period.